KANA Unveils Next-Gen Web Customer Service

How can a company use Web-based customer service to get and keep customers? Today, KANA Software is releasing its next-generation Web Customer Service (WCS) solution, with features intended to make the difference between a visitor and a loyal customer.

The new WCS is being introduced at the Call Center Week show in Las Vegas. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based KANA said the WCS focuses on three main approaches -- Experience Flows, Contextual Knowledge and Social Analytics -- that can distinguish a brand by “relevant and meaningful customer journeys.”

Experience Flows, Contextual Knowledge

KANA chief marketing officer James Norwood said in a statement that, to avoid costly calls to operator-staffed contact centers that result when customers cannot find what they need online, companies need to deliver “accurate answers consistently” and in an appropriate context.

In the new KANA WCS, pre-packaged templates and drag-and-drop tools can be used to create customer Experience Flows that have built-in paths for escalating customer inquiries, if needed, through chat, co-browsing or email. Through these Flows, customers can be guided in customized ways through such activities as buying, returning an item or converting prospective customers into buying ones.

Contextual Knowledge is KANA’s term for placing just-in-time information within a guided path that includes transactional functions and context. In other words, a customer can get a question answered about a product, based on the activity at the time and the perceived customer persona, and then given the opportunity to take a related action, such as placing an order. The company said that its Contextual Knowledge, when used in such vital sections as shopping carts or forms, can reduce abandonment rates and raise conversion rates.

Social Analytics

Citing an online survey by Echo Research in February that showed 17% of respondents used social media for customer service at least once in the previous year, KANA has integrated natural language processing-based Social Analytics into its WCS to glean insights from customer-generated content and conversations in selected social media and direct channels.

KANA’s Service Experience Management platform includes its WCS, as well as CRM, Business Process Management, Knowledge Management, Text Analytics and Social Media.

The company said that its solutions, which can be cloud-based or delivered on-premises, are used by more than 850 enterprises -- including half of the Global 100 and over 250 government agencies. In April, KANA acquired the Netherlands-based Trinicom, a provider of cloud-based Web customer service and interaction software targeted at mid-market companies.

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